We Chose to Go to the Moon: The Apollo Program Sara Weinrod and Nicola Klarfeld Junior Division Group Documentary Process Paper: 500 words 1 Process Paper Practically everyone is aware of the moon landing, yet most don’t know the impossibility it was before it happened. Just flipping through special edition magazines for Apollo’s 50th anniversary showed us how much we’d missed. For example, a copy of Smithsonian mentioned that, before Apollo 11, NASA worried that the dust on the moon could ​ act like quicksand and astronauts would sink irreversibly into the ground. Most impressive to us was that scientists weren’t sure what would happen on the moon - many decisions they made were guesses based on probability. With millions of parts, even with 99.9 percent reliability, thousands could fail. The unlikeliness of mission success, and also because it was Apollo’s 50th anniversary, lead us to agree on this topic. Our secondary source research consisted primarily of books and articles. The main part of researching, however, was in primary sources. For example, we learned about public library databases that offered a wide variety of sources. We also interviewed an astronaut and a futurist as primary sources, both who helped us understand the effects of Apollo 11 and analyze the history. We attended talks, and looked at many newspapers that were helpful to us because it helped exemplify public opinion and political barriers that were broken. After we decided on our project medium, a documentary, we realized we needed many more primary sources, particularly images and videos, to complete our project. By chance, we found a video library and image archive on the NASA website, which was extremely helpful, and a whole archive just for 2 presidential speeches, making research easier. Additionally, it made the process for creating credits much smoother. We chose to create a documentary. Our topic has such a wide variety of primary sources in terms of videos and images, and we felt that our topic could best be expressed in that way. We could tell more of a story in a video format which we thought would make the history more interesting. Also, the visuals surrounding our project were so iconic that we thought it would be important to our project to include them. In that way, we could connect the things everyone knows about with the backstory and the breaking barriers aspect. The topic fits the theme of breaking barriers, specifically of technology, politics and public opinion. Technology expanded many times over because of the Apollo missions. This was mainly because scientists had thousands of unsolved problems and needed to innovate new solutions. It is not as if those scientists had a list of problems that they could solve and then check off like a homework assignment. They had to come up with ideas out of thin air. Secondly, President Kennedy had to break political and social barriers in order to receive funding for the missions. His persuasive, enthusiastic, and now historic speeches, as well as his overwhelming popularity, helped. The most important thing to us was that it broke barriers then, so now, people can expand and break new barriers further in space. 3 Bibliography Primary Sources "50-Year-Old Memories of Apollo 11." In Weekend All Things Considered. N.p., 2019. ​ ​ https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A594148579/UHIC?u=dclib_main&sid=UHIC&xid=3df3 cfd2. On the 50th anniversary marking the success of the Apollo 11, the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum commemorated the Apollo 11 by projecting the 363-foot Saturn V rocket on the Washington Monument. Many people came to watch the spectacular Apollo 11 event taking place on the National Mall. Reporter Sarah McCammon walked around the National Mall interviewing people who were around five decades ago to watch the moon landing. McCammon interviewed a man that watched the moon landing from his bed in the United Kingdom. The fact that people watched the moon landing from across the world signifies the importance of the Apollo 11 mission. Additionally, due to the fact that many people vividly remember the moon landing fifty years later implies that the success of the Apollo 11 had a massive impact on everyone who was watching. "Although Boeing Is Best Known as a Manufacturer of Airplanes, It Has Long Been Involved with The..." In Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Riggs. ​ ​ 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2015. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3611087046/UHIC?u=dclib_main&sid=UHIC&xid=38 3a7bb4. This source is an image of a Lunar Roving Vehicle built by Boeing for NASA. This one was used on the Apollo 16 mission in 1972 and Apollo 11 did not even have a rover to use on their mission. This contributes to our project because it is a source that fits in our segmentation. It fits in the "after" category and helps us show a viewer the advancement of the missions after the first and that they continued to advance on into the future because of the first program. Apollo Contour Rocket Nozzle in the Propulsion Systems Laboratory. Photograph. NASA. July 7, ​ 1964. Accessed February 1, 2020. https://images.nasa.gov/details-GRC-1964-C-70929. This image shows a rocket nozzle being tested by scientists in a laboratory that could simulate conditions found in very high altitudes to provide critical information about flight performance. The facility shown was used to test complex rocket engines such as the ones used in the Apollo mission. The photo shown contributes to the project because it shows some of the testing facilities used for the Apollo program, as well as other space flight tests. These tests were vital for the mission because they provided opportunities to create environments that aren't naturally found on the Earth so that scientists could discover how to best prepare for the atmospheres found in space. 4 Apollo 8 Mission image, Earth over the horizon of the moon. Photograph. NASA. December 24, ​ 1968. Accessed February 6, 2020. https://images.nasa.gov/details-as08-14-2383. This source shows a picture, taken by Apollo 8, of the Earth over the moon's horizon, as if it is "rising". It is about five degrees above the moon's horizon and the photo was taken around 10:40 AM. It is similar to the famous "Earthrise" picture also taken by Apollo 8, which showed the Earth rising over the moon's horizon just as we see the Sun or the Moon. This image was important to our project because it is an iconic photo, and also because it helps visualize the enormity of the missions. When people see this photo their minds go to the progress that occurred in order to get a picture from out there. It was also taken by Apollo 8, not Apollo 11 which further exhibits the contributions of other Apollo missions. Apollo 11 astronaut footprint on Moon. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. ​ ​ ​ Accessed Jan 17, 2020.https://quest.eb.com/search/132_1248707/1/132_1248707. This picture is an image of Neil Armstrong's footprint on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. It was a milestone in human history and this image encapsulates such a vital part in human history. This image is important to our research because it shows this important event in just one image. Everyone who sees it knows what it means. "Apollo 11 Launch." MP4 video, 2:50. NASA. July 10, 2018. Accessed January 20, 2020. https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/288/apollo-11-launch/. As this video shows, the launch for Apollo 11 was a spectacular event in which millions of people world-wide viewed with awe, as well as anxiousness as they watched it ascend into the atmosphere. The scientists at mission control especially were nervous as their years of hard work and dedication was presented for the world because of the chance of catastrophic failure. Because there were so many different parts, even with a 99.9 percent reliability, it was still extremely likely that thousands of parts would fail. This source is important for our documentary and for our research because it is a video that encapsulates the excited and monumental nature of the event. This moment is the summation of ten years of barrier-breaking and hard work. "Apollo 11 Overview." MP4 video, 2:17. NASA. July 16, 1969. Accessed January 26, 2020. https://images.nasa.gov/details-Apollo%2011%20Overview. This source is a video clip of footage from the Apollo 11 mission in July of 1969. The video contains the main highlights from the mission including the dramatic liftoff, the landing, Neil Armstrong's first steps, and words, the American flag-planting, and finally, the return to Earth. This source is helpful to our research because it shows the important moments of the mission that we need to show. It also is a primary source so we can use it in our documentary to show these particular events. "Apollo 11 Splashed down in the Pacific Ocean Southwest of Hawaii after Completing Its Lunar Landing..." In Primary Sources, edited by Lawrence W. Baker, Sarah Hermsen, Rob ​ ​ Nagel, and Peggy Saari. Vol. 4 of Space Exploration Reference Library. Detroit, MI: ​ ​ UXL, 2005. 5 https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3441487286/UHIC?u=dclib_main&sid=UHIC&xid=bd ac77f8. This is an image of the Apollo 11 splashdown in the pacific ocean after the crew returned from the moon. After this time, the crew had to go directly to quarantine just in case they had picked up any bugs from the moon.